New Law Requires Rabies Shots for All Cats

A 2010 photo file of a cat taken in Mae Hong Son province. Photo: Andrew Hyde / Flickr

BANGKOK — Take your kitty to a get rabies shot now or risk being fined 3,000 baht or jailed three months – or both.

Apai Sutthisang, director of livestock department, said Monday that the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry has passed a new regulation which requires all cats to get their first rabies vaccines between the age of two and four months old.

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The former regulation – the 1992 Rabies Act – only required dogs to be vaccinated against rabies. It now adds cats to the regulation as rabies was found to be of equal threat to the felines.

From now until September, free rabies vaccines will be available at every district office and mobile agriculture clinic services nationwide, Apai said.

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“[We] focus on vaccinating 700,000 stray cats and dogs. Within these three months, we’ll vaccinate domesticated animals as much as possible and promote the regulation to the owners so they are aware of it.”